Fire, water threats loom as Noem begs Biden for Rushmore permit

PIERRE – South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem caught some publicity on June 15 when she sent U.S. President Joe Biden a letter repeating her call for a fireworks display at Mount Rushmore National Memorial on the eve of the annual Independence Day holiday.

Her request followed a recent court denial of her lawsuit seeking reversal of her application’s rejection. In the decision, the judge explained that Indian treaty rights are one reason. He cited four others, including wildfire and drinking water pollution.

Using official state letterhead stationery, Noem wrote to Biden, “Our South Dakota celebration cannot go forward unless you intervene.” She promoted the letter on social media channels, saying Biden “should allow South Dakotans the same freedom to celebrate America’s birthday that will be afforded to him and his guests on the White House Lawn.”

The correspondence referred to Biden’s invitation that same date to a July 4 White House Lawn fireworks show for first responders credited with pandemic relief. “We welcome you to join us by hosting your own events to honor our freedom, salute those who have been serving on the frontlines, and celebrate our progress in fighting this pandemic,” a White House email told tribal, state, and local officials.

Noem responded,  “What a hypocrite. President Biden wants ‘a summer of freedom’ where we ‘mark independence from the virus by celebrating with events across the country’. Translation: Fireworks are fine at the White House, but not at Mount Rushmore.”

She said earlier she plans for South Dakota to appeal the June 2 ruling of Roberto A. Lange, chief judge in the Central Division of South Dakota U.S. District Court. Lange denied the mandatory preliminary injunction the governor sought in Noem v. Haaland for a National Parks Service special use permit to detonate fireworks at the monument.

The judge took note of the fact that this was not Noem’s first letter to Biden on the subject. The National Parks Service, or NPS, denied the application on March 11.  “Instead of immediately pursuing this case, one month after the denial letter on April 13, the governor chose to write a letter to the President,” he observed.

On April 30, the state filed suit, nearly seven weeks, or half of the then-remaining time before the holiday, he found, saying, “Here, the federal defendants point out that the state could have brought its claims sooner.” The defendants’ “nearly impossible task of preparing for this major event in about four weeks,” as they put it, included developing an environmental impact assessment.

The judge explained the historical context of the lawsuit. “A fireworks display at Mount Rushmore on July 3, on first blush, seems like a good way to celebrate the Independence Day weekend. This country could use a good celebration of its foundational principles of democracy, liberty, and equal protection of law, after a pandemic that has disrupted society and business and has killed nearly 600,000 United States citizens to date, after an insurrection and physical incursion of the United States Capitol while Congress was convening to certify the outcome of the presidential election, and after this nation has become so sadly divided by the politicization of so many issues, likely to include even the outcome of this case.”

He continued, “The United States would benefit immensely from greater unity in its efforts to continually form a more perfect union. So, a national show of unity and celebration, such as a fireworks display at Mount Rushmore for Independence Day, is appealing. However, the court must deny the requested injunctive relief in this case, he said, acknowledging, “Starting in 1998, and continuing for 11 consecutive years—except for in 2002 when there was an elevated fire risk—, the memorial had annual fireworks displays to celebrate Independence Day.

“The NPS stopped the annual fireworks display for several reasons, including that the event had become a chaotic ‘free-for-all’ with far more people attending than the memorial could handle,” he said. The parking lot with 1,100 parking spaces would fill up by 9 a.m. People would arrive at as early as 6 a.m. “to camp out and hang around all day.” Roughly 8,000 people would crowd into the developed area, he found.

“Other visitors ended up in restricted areas or in positions where they could not even see the fireworks display. The number of visitors complicated emergency vehicle access, and trash accumulated both from the all-day visitors and from the fireworks themselves,” he noted, adding, “In 2001, over 30,000 people flooded the memorial to watch the fireworks display.”

Over the course of years, 18 wildfires started as a result of the fireworks display. Quick fire suppression resulted in no more than 2 acres burnt at the site. In April 2003, the NPS issued a detailed environmental assessment of Independence Day fireworks at the memorial, including an exhaustive listing of the pros and cons, as well as discussing the safer alternative of a laser light show. The judge relied on this and NPS expert testimony to describe the situation.

The Black Hills is undergoing environmental changes, with a multi-year drought and the mountain pine beetle infestation killing trees and providing tinder for wildfires, the briefs state. “Thus, the fireworks display to commemorate the Fourth of July ceased after 2009,” he said.

After a 10-year hiatus, Noem and the Interior Department in former U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration entered into a Memorandum of Agreement on May 6, 2019 “to return fireworks to Mount Rushmore National Memorial in a safe and responsible manner on July 3, July 4, or July 5, beginning in the year 2020,” according to court documentation.

For the proposed resumption of the fireworks, the government had to invest in another  environmental assessment in April of 2020. The NPS issued a special use permit on June 15, 2020. The permit declared,  “Issuance of this permit is for the current year 2020 and does not mean an automatic renewal of the event in the future.”

Federal defendants in the lawsuit to renew the permit argued that the Black Hills is in the throes of a drought; the Wildland Fire Potential Outlook issued in March characterized the conditions as exerting “extreme pressure” on firefighting personnel and equipment. The judge determined, “This concern cannot be dismissed… .”

He grouped it as a concern secondary to treaty tribe concerns, as an environmental issue — together with unacceptably high contaminants in the facility’s water system. Treating them would have had to wait if the park service undertook to organize the fireworks, defendants successfully argued. “The park continues to monitor levels of perchlorates in the water and the potential for wildfire,” they said.

The fireworks events between 1998 and 2009 were “the most probable source for perchlorate contamination,” according to official findings. Perchlorate is a contaminant that can cause human thyroid dysfunction. The U.S. Geological Survey in 2011 detected high levels of perchlorate in soils, surface water, and groundwater at Mount Rushmore.

“The potential exists that the levels of in drinking water could become elevated following a fireworks display, especially when considering the existing levels of perchlorate in the memorial’s drinking water,” the docket reflects.

EPA’s Drinking Water Health Advisory level for perchlorate is 15 parts per billion, or ppb, and the perchlorate levels at Mount Rushmore declined over the years of no fireworks displays — from around 29 ppb to a low of 12 ppb. After the 2020 fireworks event, the perchlorate levels in drinking water increased at some monument testing stations. At the time of permit denial in March they remained above the EPA health advisory level.

(Contact Talli Nauman at talli.nauman@gmail.net)

The post Fire, water threats loom as Noem begs Biden for Rushmore permit first appeared on Native Sun News Today.

Visit Original Source